Design and analysis of a district heating system by using the waste heat of Bayburt province solid waste facility

This study aims to conduct thermoeconomic and thermodynamic analyses of the Biogas Power Plant established under the Bayburt-Gümüşhane Provincial Municipalities Solid Waste Management Union (BAY-GÜ-KAB) in Bayburt. The plant generates electricity by combusting landfill gas (LFG) obtained from municipal solid waste collected from surrounding municipalities in a gas engine. The waste heat produced by the gas engine is utilized to design a district heating model to meet the heating and hot water needs of the nearby TOKİ residential buildings. This model is intended to be integrated into the existing system, thereby improving the overall efficiency of the plant. Furthermore, the thermodynamic and thermoeconomic evaluations of the proposed district heating model will also be performed. The workflow of the plant, from the initial processing of solid waste to the final electricity production stage, is detailed using diagrams, illustrations, and visual aids. The incoming waste quantities and the plant's production capacity were considered to analyze the utilization of waste heat. Actual operational data from the facility were utilized to evaluate system inputs and outputs, and all calculations were based on these real-world values. For the design of the proposed district heating model, thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analyses were conducted using real operating data, and a sustainable model was presented based on the plant's current operational parameters. This design, which leverages the waste heat of the gas engine used in electricity production, was modeled to meet the heating and hot water demands of the nearest residential complexes. Additionally, the maximum number of residential units that could be heated and supplied with hot water by the system was determined. The energy and exergy efficiencies of the BAY-GÜ-KAB plant were calculated as 42.71% and 59.29%, respectively. For the proposed district heating model, energy and exergy efficiencies were determined to be 42.51% and 38.17%, respectively. Moreover, the system was found capable of heating 529 residential units. With the incorporation of the regional heating model designed for the BAY-GÜ-KAB power plant, the exergy and energy efficiencies of the system were calculated as 64.76% and 62.32%, respectively, demonstrating improvements in these metrics. It was concluded that the investment in the designed regional heating system would pay for itself within 2.65 years. The proposed regional heating system has been presented as a sustainable energy source.